The Magpie's Song

Meet a heroine whose goal is not to change the world by force, but to heal and mend human destinies.

When a mad and power-hungry ruler decided to slaughter all those he could not turn into soldiers, the world became a place without science, without art, and without hope. A place where offering comfort is no easy task.

For the young sorceress Henika, however, this very thing has become her life’s purpose. Cast out by her mother, but with her friends — her trusty mare, Potvora, and a magpie who hides more than one secret — she helps wherever her healing skills are needed. Whether she finds herself in a city whose gates cannot be left, with a troop of child soldiers on a very strange mission, or in a castle where a highly suspicious newborn has appeared, she must always carefully weigh what she stands to lose and what she can gain.

Pain and suffering take many forms, but the torments of the soul are surprisingly similar. And it is these wounds that are the hardest of all to heal. It is up to Henika to figure out how the land and its people can be cured.

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Henika brought her horse to a sharp halt and stared intently at the red-tinted water. In the faint light of the rising sun, her eyes could be deceiving her. She looked up at the houses of the wealthy townspeople, which stood on the highest side of the square, to make sure. Unfortunately not. There had not been enough blood today. In the corner of the square stood a pillory. It had always been empty before, its iron ends fused with rust. But today, a person was imprisoned within it. For a fleeting moment, Henika wanted to urge her mare onward and continue home. To shed her clothes, damp with rain and stained with blood. To warm herself with a hot drink and wash away the bad feeling of failure… But she couldn’t. The promise she had made some time ago in a semi-abandoned infirmary was too binding.
— excerpt from the book